A tree owner has a general duty of care in law not to injure their neighbour. They may be liable in negligence if:
- the tree sheds a branch
- injury or harm results
- the injury or harm was foreseeable
- the person injured or harmed was someone to whom the owner had a duty of care
- the injury or harm was a breach of that duty
There is nothing set down about how often a tree should be inspected. However, if you own a tree and fail to inspect it, you could be considered to be negligent should something happen.
Equally, in law if it is obvious to a layman that there is something wrong with a tree and he fails to do anything about it then he is negligent. It is particularly important to check trees after high winds.
As well as the full range of practical tree surgery services, we also offer a service to visually assess trees for the risk they might represent, and produce a comprehensive written report of our findings. Most assessments we complete are ground-based, but sometimes it is necessary to complete a full, aerial crown investigation (if, for example, it’s clear from the ground that a structural fault or decay would requires closer investigation to be able to risk-assess the condition of the tree accurately).
So we were delighted when our Assistant Team Leader Tom recently received his Lllantra Professional Tree Inspection certificate, to go along with his other professional qualifications, and joined Director Andrew with the skills, experience and recognized accreditation to undertake this important aspect of our work.
For advice about the condition of your trees, call Andrew on 01256 817369, 07771 883061 or email him Andrew @primarytreesurgeons.co.uk